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Roofing Company Fined for Worker’s Death

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has fined Pro-Tec Roofing Inc. for failure to properly train a worker who died in a construction accident.

About the Construction Accident and OSHA Fine

Pro-Tec roofing Inc. will have to pay $77,000 in penalties for an April accident which caused 24-year-old Justin Althoff, a roofing worker, to fall more than 33 feet to his death. Althoff was working on the roof of the Watertown Community Center.

OSHA stated that Pro-Tec did not provided an adequate fall protection system. The agency also states that inspectors also found other infractions, including failure to provide fire extinguishers, inadequate electrical safe work practices, and insufficient chemical hazards practices associated with the installation of synthetic roofing.

According to KSFY, Pro-Tec will receive two willful and eight serious safety violations. The United States Department of Labor defines a willful violation, the more serious of the two, as “a violation in which the employer either knowingly failed to comply with a legal requirement or acted with plain indifference to employee safety.”